Watch: KL Rahul’s response to English fan’s boos

By Christopher Paul

Image credit @ Twitter

India versus England has always been a major crowd pleaser and magnet. Even for this series, almost every match has had a packed stadium. On the second day of the Third Test too, the stadium was almost packed and the English crowd was backing up their team. The English supporters were also trying to annoy and get on the nerves of the Indian players.

KL Rahul picked up a stellar catch at second slip, which was so difficult, even the umpire was forced to think for a second, that perhaps it was not clean. He went upstairs to the third umpire, who decided in the bowler’s favour. A dismayed Joe Root walked back and this did not please English fans, who did not expect the skipper to be dismissed this way.

Ticked off English fans started booing Rahul for claiming the catch which did not seem clean in the first place. After four overs, Rahul picked up the wicket of Ben Stokes. It was an easy catch and was visibly clean. It was payback time for Rahul who celebrated by putting his hand around his ear, as if he was trying to hear something, clearly taking a dig at the home fans.

Though India was bowled out at 329/10, England did not get too far. Ishant Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah together dealt a harsh blow to the top order. Hardik Pandya came and crushed the middle and lower-middle order, in the process, achieving his maiden five-for in Tests. The ones to fall were Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid and James Anderson.

Another achievement came with Rishabh Pant, who became the first and youngest Indian wicket-keeper to pick up five catches on his debut. As a result of India’s stellar bowling performance, England was restricted to a mere 161 in just 38.2 overs.